Project presentationCell-cell communication-based multicellular networks provide an extended vista for synthetic biology. However, ‘chemical wires’ that allow versatile concurrent communications are far from sufficient.
Accordingly, our project intends to develop a versatile ‘chemical wire’ toolbox for both multicellular Boolean computing and non-Boolean dynamics by two approaches. Firstly, a set of recently reported novel quorum sensing systems have been characterized. Secondly, quorum sensing (QS) based transcriptional repression systems have been built from the ground up by conversing LuxR family of transcription activators into repressors. We next sought to develop design rules of microbial consortia as supplements to this toolbox. To validate this toolbox together with the design rules, several robust combinational and sequential logic circuits that are difficult to be implemented in single cell have been constructed as a proof of concept for Boolean logic. As for non-Boolean dynamics, a balancer of microbial population density has been created with supporting microfluid device.
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